St. Stephen's Indian School
Virtual Museum Project Blog

ABC... Whoopee!

The Arapaho Alphabet website is online. At present it is password protected because we are still waiting for all the permission forms to be collected. (If you need the password, ask Dara Weller or Maureen Matson.)

Right now we have three to four sample words for each of the 16 letters of the Arapaho written alphabet. Click any letter to see sample words that use that letter in Arapaho. Click on each word to read what the word means in English, hear it spoken in Arapaho, and see a visual representation of the word. We hope you enjoy this new addition to our virtual museum.

Postponing our Presentation

After much discussion, we have decided to postpone the presentation until the fall of 2007. This has not stopped our progress, but we believe that we can get much more accomplished if we extend the time. Largely the issue has been finding enough time to conduct all the interviews and edit the vast amount of video that we have collected over the past few trips. We want our final product to be the best it can be!

Our staff developer, Susannah Moran, is still coming to visit April 30 - May 3. She will continue to work with teachers and students, helping them develop technology skills. Our grant coordinator, Dara Weller, is trying to arrange a summer institute for teachers and students to continue the work we have begun this year.

Our target date for the presentation will be in September or early October. Check back to this blog for more information.

Thank You Wind River Tribal College

Today was very (VERY) stressful when we found that our school's network would not support the videoconferencing equipment that Mark Christal (NMAI) brought with him. Our first resort (Plan A) was to get a tech-person into the school to fix the problem. After much discussion, however, we learned that this was not practical or possible. Our second resort (Plan B) was to get permission to use the facilities at CWC. Unfortunately, after much calling around we learned that they were completely booked. Luckily, Fred Antelope came up with a workable plan:

Plan C: Fred called the Wind River Tribal College and asked if we could use their vc setup. Marlin Spoonhunter, the president of the college readily agreed and we set off through the reservation to see we could connect to NMAI. Not only did the equipment work (yeah!) but the whole staff of WRTC was so welcoming and accommodating that we are begriming to see our tech-troubles as a blessing in disguise.

Thank you so much, WRTC.

A template for our museum

We are still working out the kinks in this template, but here is a sample of what it might look like: Sample Virtual Museum. Remember, this is only a template and we haven't put the actual information in yet.

Click here to vote for our color scheme, fonts, and to give us your ideas to make this virtual museum better.

Do you want your own blog?

Blogging is more than the latest craze. It is a great way to develop an online community!

A blog is a an online journal in which entries, which typically consist of text, images, and links, are posted in a reverse chronological order. The term blog is a combination of the words "web" and "log" and today's blogs are an evolution of online diaries and online bulletin boards. If you aren't familiar with blogs, you may want to look at a few to get a feeling of the format. While people write blogs for many reasons, you can look at 4PBL or Where Does the Water Go? to see examples of creative, educational blogs.

When creating your own blog, remember that blogs consist of a series of posts. Posts are like diary entries. Each post should have a title, a date, and text. Posts may be as short as a few sentences or as long as you like. Some bloggers include media (pictures, videos, sound files) or hyperlinks to other blogs or websites. Readers may add comments to posts. For the Chaucer assignment, you may want to include reactions from some of the other pilgrims as comments, but it is not a requirement.

If you want to create and publish your blog, you can use one of these free blog-servers:

• Wordpress (Click here for a good handout with instructions to help you get started with Wordpress.)
• Edublog
• Blogger

Making a Timeline

It took me an extra day to get this timeline info up and available, because I wanted it just right. The idea is for Mr. McDuff's classes to contribute to a single, interactive timeline. (How cool!) For our purposes, the whole class will be creating one single timeline. I've created a worksheet to help students prepare the information they need for each event. I suggest we designate the first three text details as follows: Detail Text 1: Use this for a longer, more descriptive title or alternate title. Detail Text 2: Use this for the student's byline (As in "Submitted by [your name]"). Detail Text 3: Use this for a hyperlink to a web site with more information (if applicable). Detail Text 4: Any other information that is brief.

Click here to see an unfinished timeline on the History Literature. This is just an example. If you click on some of the icons, you will see text and/or pictures that provide more detail and information.

It is easy to get started. Just follow these steps:

1. First, you should watch the video about creating the timeline. This is a quick overview of everything you need to know.
2. Next, download the software. This software was created and supported by John's Hopkins University, but is free for educators to use.
3. Finally, here is a handout that provides step by step instructions.

Don't worry too much about the bugs. The important part is to collect the information for events so we can add them to our timeline. Good luck!

In the News

This just in from Maureen Matson:

The Casper Star Tribune (Casper, Wy.) had a front page feature article and photos in today's paper on the Arapaho language:

Story: Walking in two worlds In Brief: Arapaho students learn native language in hope of boosting English performance. Teacher aide Carolyn Bauer gathers about 15 squirming kindergarten students onto the rug in front of the teacher's chair. They are a miniature gaggle of alert, bopping faces, many dressed in sweat pants and sneakers. Bauer, in the manner of a grandmother, readies them for their language lesson. Everything in the Arapahoe School classroom exists on an almost Lilliputian scale: low hexagonal tables with tiny multicolored chairs; 3-foot-high easels for drawing and painting. (Click here to read the full story)

There was also a web site to go to to listen to interview with Arapaho speakers and learners, and to view more photos. (Click here to view)

Too Busy to Blog

Well we have certainly been busy the past two days. I barely have time to add to this blog. Don't worry. Anything that isn't uploaded immediately can always be added later.

One of the most important things we have been doing this trip is planning each part or component of the Virtual Museum and assigning sections to each participating class. Here is a short summary, or you can click on the info symbol for more details:

What is a Virtual Museum?

A virtual museum is a collection of digital artifacts (pictures, sounds, movies) and information resources that are available electronically. This collection of information centers on a related theme. Generally, a virtual museum is posted on the Internet. However, it can be displayed at a stand-alone computer (like a kiosk) or distributed on a CD–ROM.

Creating a virtual museum allows students to build meaning about a topic as they create and curate the museum collection. Students may not be familiar with virtual museums. You can take a "field trip" to virtual
museums on the Internet. There are many museums that have online tours. Have students visit at least two different types of museums (an art museum, a history museum, etc.) Some suggested sites are:

• Splendors of Ancient Egypt
• Liberty Bell Museum
• Smith College
• Olympic Museum
• Mount Vernon
• Smithsonian
• National Gallery of Art
• American Museum of Natural History

After students have visited the site, discuss the features of a virtual museum. Which features do they like and want to include in their own virtual museum? Which features do they not like and want to avoid in their own virtual museum? In elementary classrooms, create a checklist or chart and display it prominently throughout the project. In middle/high school classrooms, create a rubric and provide each student or group with a copy of the rubric for their project notebooks.

Take the Pre-Survey

Students: Click here

Teachers: Click here

Initial Meetings

Our first round of meetings was highly successful. Much was accomplished. If you didn't get a copy of the minutes, you can download them (word documents) here:x

• Agenda for 3 days (prepared by D. Weller)
• Notes from 1/9/2007
• Notes from conference call with NMAI
• Additional notes from 1/10/2007

Please contact Susannah if you feel there is any missing or incorrect information in these notes.